Business Split on Transportation Tax Increase
The governor and legislature barreled ahead with their tax and vehicle registration fee increase proposal for road repair with little compromise that would use more currently collected revenues for the roads. The plan offers some accountability language and a constitutional amendment to protect the new taxes from being spent on other than transportation needs. But […]
Why the Housing Crisis Won’t Get Fixed by Building Cheaper Homes
This time of year, the swallows return to Capistrano, and I return to my birthplace, San Francisco, for the city’s annual pre-budget finance conference. For the last few years I have kicked things off with an economic outlook for the coming year, replete with a discussion of risks. This being San Francisco, naturally, I had […]
Trust No One
Without public notice, in the absence of any staff analysis, contrary to the direction of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted a resolution that will drive up the cost of delivering goods to market and harm the competitiveness of California’s ports. On Thursday, March 23rd, following the […]
Stop Blaming California for Donald Trump
Is California to blame for Donald Trump? That may seem a preposterous question to ask of a state that voted so decisively against the new American president that it was responsible, all by itself, for his loss of the popular vote. It seems even stranger given California’s near-total resistance to Trump’s presidency, and the way […]
Legislation would upend local citizens’ initiatives
In 2016 California voters considered more than 850 local ballot measures. But that is just too much democracy, according to a measure introduced in the Assembly last month. Most local measures are placed on the ballot by a local governing board: city council, school board, transit district, etc. Most of those measures are charter amendments, tax increases or bond […]
Proportional Representation Could Accomplish What Redistricting Reform Can’t
Former Governor Schwarzenegger and other participants in his campaign for redistricting reform across the country have identified the right problems. They are correct in pointing out how unrepresentative state legislatures have become; the percentages of votes that each party gets rarely represents the percentage the party holds in American state houses. Schwarzenegger and allies also […]
The New Assault on Part-Time Jobs
A new proposal in Sacramento could beat up companies that depend on part-time workers. Called AB 5, the proposed bill is a roundhouse punch to all but very small companies because it pushes employers to transform part-time workers into full-time employees. It would make employers offer more hours to their part-time workers before hiring anyone […]
There’s No Other Choice for California – America Has to Lead The World
Syria has become the disaster for a generation and Iran wants to lord over the Middle East along with anywhere else it can get its grips into a region or government by whatever means necessary. In Eastern Europe a resurgent Russia continues seizing Ukraine and Putin still believes the downfall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical disaster […]
Bond Transparency
Bonds are not free money. The question is: do voters know that when they vote on bonds? If you follow bond election campaigns you know that in most cases supporters of bonds don’t tell voters that state bonds obligate money from the General Fund or that local bonds raise taxes. It is time for transparency […]